| A branch of task research in EFL Classroom attaches importance to the intrinsic cognitive complexity of task, investigating how it influences learner'language performance and interaction. Within all the hypotheses on task complexity, Robinson divides task complexity into distinct dimensions - increasing task complexity along resource-directing dimension including [-/+few elements], [-/+reasoning demands] and so on will stimulate better language performance and more negotiated interaction.This study sought to further verify Robinson's hypothesis by manipulating [-/+few elements] and [-/+reasoning demands], examining how task complexity impacts word counts and characteristics of learner's interaction.56 participants from a non-English major of a Jiangsu college were randomly assigned into two groups (simple and complex), each of which had 14 dyads. They were respectively required to complete two versions of a "decision-making" task -the simple version included less elements and required simpler reasoning; while the complex version contained more elements and higher level of reasoning was requested.The oral production of the 28 dyads was recorded, transcribed, coded and analyzed. In terms of quantitative analysis, the word counts and the turn-taking in interaction discourse, the amount of negotiated interaction, the distribution of different strategies and content of negotiation and the number of learner modification were calculated. The significance of difference of the above indices in both groups was tested with the assistance of SPSS 18.0. A qualitative analysis of the significant episodes was also made to reveal the specific relationship between task complexity and interaction. The research drew the following conclusions:1. With regards to the word counts, complex task generates more words than simple task and the differences of total words are significant. Nevertheless, [-/+few elements] does not show a significant effect on the interaction discourse's word counts; while in the parts that [-/+reasoning demands] is manipulated, a significant difference shows.2. As for the negotiated nature of L-L interaction, regarding turn-taking, complex task triggers more turn-taking than simple task and the difference is significant. However, similar to word counts, the result of manipulating [-/+few elements] does not show significant difference. On the contrary, the difference in turn-taking generated by the variable [-/+reasoning demands] is significant.3. In terms of the distribution of negotiation strategies in both tasks, more negotiation strategies are triggered in the complex task. In terms of the number of specific negotiation strategies, significantly more confirmation checks, clarification requests and contradictions are used in complex task while the other strategies show no significance.4. Concerning the topic of negotiation, significantly more negotiation of meaning and content are generated in the complex task, but no significant difference shows on the number of negotiation of form. Within each group, negotiation of content is the most in both versions of task. In the simple task, the number of language related episodes is more than that of negotiation of meaning.5. Regarding learner modification, in both groups, opinion acceptance or argument takes the highest proportion. More meaning clarifications occur in the complex task, the proportion of which is also higher; while more uptakes of the language-related episodes appear in the simple task, but the proportion of uptake is also higher in the complex task.This study provided empirical evidence for the Cognition Hypothesis. But there are still some results not fully supportive. One reason may lie in the language proficiency of learners which can be better controlled as a covariate in the further research. Based on the findings of the study, some implications can be drawn for the study of task and the task designing in the foreign language classroom. |
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